Net Markets: Driving Success in the B2B Networked Economy

Charles R. Crawford, a former associate professor of computer science at
York University, is a computer-programming and mathematics consultant.

In a recent Dilbert cartoon, the hero says that you can tell that no one
knows how to manage a business by the thousands of books that are
written about how to do it. Such books are usually written by successful
managers, most of whom provide unsatisfactory explanations of why they
were successful. The nagging question always is, why are they writing a
book rather than continuing to run successful businesses?

Net Markets does not fall into that pattern. The authors are senior
consultants with Deloitte and Touche and have probably watched the
management of many successful and unsuccessful businesses. Furthermore,
the book is probably written to attract clients whom the authors believe
they can help. In particular, it is addressed to readers who may have
plans for an enterprise that uses the Internet to service other
businesses (hence the jargon “B2B” in the subtitle).

Dagenais and Gautschi present several methods for analyzing the
potential of such businesses. They show the many dimensions that can be
used to view a business that services other businesses through the
Internet. Several examples of “e-businesses” (both successful and
not) are described. The authors would no doubt be pleased if their
prospective clients read this book and did the analysis before coming to
them for more detailed help.